Casting director David Rubin elected film academy president

FILE – In this Feb. 4, 2019, file photo, an Oscar statue appears at the 91st Academy Awards Nominees Luncheon in Beverly Hills, Calif. Casting director David Rubin has been elected the new president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization that bestows the Oscars. (Photo by Danny Moloshok/Invision/AP, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Casting director David Rubin has been elected the new president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, the organization that bestows the Oscars.

He is the first casting director to ascend to the film academy’s presidency. He succeeds cinematographer John Bailey, who has served as the academy’s president since August 2017.

Rubin has more than 100 credits, including films such as “The English Patient,” ”Men in Black, “Four Weddings and a Funeral” and the hit HBO series “Big Little Lies.”

He assumes the film academy’s presidency as the organization continues its efforts to diversify its membership and improve viewership for the Academy Awards, which has the last two years dipped below 30 million viewers.

The film academy in 2016 pledged to double the number of female and minority ranks of its members by 2020. Then, just 25 percent of its members were female and 8 percent were non-white.

The Oscars will be presented Feb. 9 and broadcast on ABC.

Copyright 2019 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.